Chapter 11
Chad
A fter Emma and Bryan left, I decided I felt the need to swallow a testosterone pill or something. I loved Emma, I did, but that did not mean I wanted to be at any woman’s beck and call. I might be lonely at times, the nights might get monotonous occasionally, and I may get sick of not remembering my partner’s name, but no woman would own me.
More than one woman in the past tried to convince me they were the one for me, and they all failed miserably. I loved women. I loved the way they desired me. I liked the attention.
Grabbing my gear—headache be damned—I hopped in my car and drove to the gym. I needed to breathe in the smell of sweat and iron in order to help me forget about everything. Not that there was anything wrong with being owned by a woman like her, because Emma was a woman worthy of falling off the pedestal for. However, it was one thing to fall, it was another thing to sink into the ground and bury myself. That would never happen…and I don’t care what others said about never say never. Never going to happen!
Bryan and I were different. He was softer and more open. Even in college, he was more sensitive to the people around him. I could remember one time when his friend Mel called him crying, and he cancelled guy’s night to go and check on her. It didn’t bother me because I hooked up with the Townsend twins and saw fireworks, literally and figuratively. The things those two could do with their mouths, still had the power to make my dick hard today, and it had been a decade since that memorable night.
But like I said, we were different. I spent a lot of my free time these days either in the gym or in bed with a woman. Bryan, on the other hand, loved to be up in his jet. I could probably bench press him in my sleep, but he needed to be lean in order to fit in the cockpit of his fighter jet and to comply with Navy regulations. Not me. I liked my body, my muscles. And women went wild for them. They wanted to touch me, stroke me…feel me sliding into them. Some used the pick-up line, “Are you as big down there as the rest of you?” Cheesy, and yet, I couldn’t leave the challenge alone. Each and every time, I would prove to them that not only did I have a big, strong body, I had a monster cock and I knew how to use it.
Waking into the gym, I took in a deep breath. This was my safe place, the place I could come when nothing else seemed right. Lifting weights not only helped my body, but it helped my mind. I had gotten a job here in college and had yet to leave. After graduating and starting my own company, I still kept some of my personal training clients because I loved it too much to completely quit. This was my manna.
“Hey, Chad.” The receptionist grinned at me in greeting. Like many others, her eyes glided over my body. She wanted me, but I wasn’t about to succumb to her charms. I would not cross that imaginary line with a co-worker, and even more so with a woman who I knew was dating one of the other trainers, Eddie. I might have slept with some married women in my time, but I didn’t work with them.
While some may not believe it, I did have a set of standards and rules I followed. Giving her a small nod, I said, “Hi, Andie.”
“Do you have clients today?”
“No, I came in to work out.” I still gave her a wink and smile, because while I would never sleep with her, it never stopped me from flirting.
Her eyes raked my arms again, down my chest and abs, to my cock and the tip of her tongue darted out to lick her pink lips. It was a tried and true way to seduce a man, and women had been using it since the beginning of time, but we men had our own tricks. Crossing my arms, to make them and my chest look even bigger, my grin grew to show off my straight, gleaming white teeth. I almost laughed when I noticed her hard swallow, and how she practically drooled over my body. It was a body she wanted, and probably wished her boyfriend had. But no one could match me, I was sheer perfection.
“Have a great workout,” she said, her voice husky with desire. Thanks to me, Eddie would probably get an extra helping of sex tonight.
“Thanks, I will.” I brushed passed the receptionist desk and moved toward the locker room to stow my bag. I still had it, and Andie’s little flirt session did more for my funk than I thought possible. Maybe I just needed to be reminded that I was a prime male specimen and my dick would not be thrown into a chastity belt for any woman.
Or maybe, I needed to get my mind off of Rayne. I didn’t give a fuck how she was feeling or what she was doing. That woman had created more issues than she had the right. Stoking the hatred for her, making the fire burn high and bright, I threw my bag into a locker and ran out into to gym.
As soon as my hands gripped the barbell, all felt right with the world again. I had purpose. I had a clear picture of what the future held…at least the immediate future. No more floundering. I had to commit myself and follow through. Rayne wouldn’t know what hit her.
Chapter 12
Rayne
C had had virtually disappeared. I thought he had some vested interest in me, but if that was the case, why did it seem as if he had disappeared? It had been four days since our drinkfest and I hadn’t heard anything from him, except from my mother who had flaunted his praises, telling and retelling me how he called her in my time of need. He called my mother. My mother. He could call her, but somehow, his finger was broken when it came to me. Not that I cared, because caring about Chad or anything that had to do with him would probably give me an STD of some sort through osmosis.
I didn’t care if he called me or not. I didn’t care what he planned for me. Some grand plan according to him, which I guessed included getting me roaring drunk.
And I certainly didn’t care that I kept hearing rumors about him whoring around town.
Did. Not. Care.
Yet, after he unceremoniously dumped me at home and ran away, I believed he would have called at some point. I was wrong. As it turned out, he was a rude, ill-mannered heathen.
A high-pitched caterwauling from my phone ramped up my anxiety and irritation. Who the fuck had changed my ringtone? It was annoying and made me want to smash it with a hammer.
Reaching for it quickly, I growled, “What?” If I had to listen to that ringtone, my caller could deal with my pissy attitude.
“Is that anyway to answer a phone? Do you need to learn some sort of phone etiquette, because it seems like you are seriously lacking in that department.”
“Chad!” I shouted in shock. His name tasted bitter and rotten on my tongue. “What do you want?”
“I was calling to see if you wanted to do lunch today.” He spoke confidently, as if he knew I would never say no to him.
Unfortunately for him, I knew how to think for myself—unlike some of the other bimbos he associated with. “Can’t. I have meetings all day.”
“Then tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Thursday or Friday?”
“No and no. This week is a little crazy with work. Sorry. Find someone else to stroke your dick. Oh! I mean your ego,” I sneered, unable to hold back my cackle.
A slight pause greeted me and I almost thought he would hang up, but he finally said, “Funny. Hardy har har.” His voice dropped lower, “That little slip of the tongue may have been intentional, but you have to ask yourself why it is your thinking about my dick? Do you miss it? Does your pussy crave the feel of it slamming into you? Filling you up like nothing else can?”
Unable to say anything, I hung up on him and pulled the battery from my phone. Powering down the device was too good for him. No, I wasn’t craving him. My body shuddered out of repulsion whenever it thought of him. My pussy would rather wrap itself around a dildo covered in barbwire than to welcome him back in. There was no fucking way I wanted him.
An hour later, my boss called me into his large office. The thing was massive and too big for only one person, but he felt it was his right since he owned the place. Maybe it was, but his lone office took up one third of our office space. Not that I was bitter or anything like that. I couldn’t care less about that stuff, but one of these days, he would look at me as his equal in
stead of someone who stood at his beck and call. I was the marketing manager, not his slave.
That said, I loved my job. The company prided itself on being environmentally conscious, the pay was good, I got along with most of the people. I just wished Justin acted like he trusted me in my position more. Sometimes he acted as if I didn’t know basic concepts of being an adult or my job.
Crossing the room, my heels clanking on the concrete floor, I stopped short. What the fuck was he doing here? Chad sat in front of my boss, and they were laughing together. Had the world ended without my knowledge? Had Hell frozen over? Those were the only explanations I could come up with for why Chad Alexander occupied any miniscule amount of space in this office.
“Ah, here she is,” Justin stood up with a smile on his face and greeted me. “Rayne, Mr. Alexander has come in with the mockups we requested.”
“Please, call me Chad,” my enemy corrected with a sly smirk on his face, one I wanted to slap off his full lips.
A piece of a memory—or maybe it was a nightmare—flashed in my mind. His lips trailing down my body as his tongue traced my bellybutton and then lower. Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and asked, “Mockups? I thought we weren’t getting those until next week and I didn’t realize we went with Chad’s company.” My boss suddenly decided two months ago that he wanted to rebrand our whole business, but the list I had given him excluded Chad’s company. Our mockup was supposed to be coming from Preston and Santo, not C&M Graphics. I made sure his name never appeared on the short list.
My eyes glanced over Justin’s shoulder, peering out the window. I expected to see pigs flying, the world falling apart, or something. Nothing except a cloudless blue sky greeted me.
His eyes narrowed, and then he groused, “The other company called and said that they needed more time.” Crap. I hadn’t a clue. His tone shifted to become more arrogant and superior when he said, “So a couple of weeks ago when I had an appointment with Chad at the gym, I talked to him about the problem, and he said he could do it. He already has the mockups for the new logo.”
Based on Justin’s attitude, I suspected he believed I should have known all of this, but I hadn’t because nobody told me. While they plotted, I remained in the dark. Was this part of Chad’s grand plan? To sabotage me at work?
“That is correct, and if these don’t work for you, Justin, then I can come up with something else. If you like certain aspects of different ones, I can work those into a new design,” Chad spoke up. He sounded snide and it goaded me on further.
I was surrounded by idiots. On one side, I found a man that was full of himself and cockier than any man had a right to be, and on the other, my boss, who apparently expected me to be a fucking mind reader.
But why stop at these two. I was practically drowning in idiots. My awful sister-in-law, Emma, my blind to the truth brother, Bryan, and my parents who also thought that Emma was God’s gift to the world. She wasn’t. If anything, she was the devil incarnate and a liar.
After they discussed the mockups, ignoring me for the most part, Chad left, and as I was about to walk out of the office, my boss delayed my exit with one simple question, “Are we handicap accessible?”
“Excuse me?” I whipped around and gaped. Handicap accessible? Why in the word would it matter? No one in our office was handicapped.
“I hired a new human resource manager. She will also be handling the payroll and a few other things, but she is in a wheelchair and we need to make sure we are compliant with disability regulations…or whatever they’re called.”
Wheelchair? Handicap? I lived in hell. “I didn’t realize you were interviewing for the position. I thought Jordyn was supposed to be coming back.”
“No. Well, she was supposed to be back after her maternity leave, however, her husband is in the Navy and got his transfer papers. Therefore, she has decided that although they won’t leave for a few more months, she is going to turn in her notice instead. Since her six weeks is up this week, she’ll start on Monday to train the new person. With her leaving abruptly, I had to find someone fast. This person is more than qualified. Jordyn will stay until Becky is trained. Given what will be happening and she has to prepare for the transfer herself, she felt it was best to do the transition to a new HR manager now.”
“But…she’s in a wheelchair.”
His eyes narrowed on me and he tilted his head to the side, studying me closely. “Do you have a problem with wheelchairs? Some sort of phobia? Because I know you aren’t suggesting she can’t do the job just because she’s in a wheelchair.”
Throwing my shoulders back and standing straighter, I said, “No, sir. I’m not. I don’t have a phobia. I was merely taken by surprise. As for the layout of our office space, yes, it is handicap compliant and meets ADA guidelines.” My tone was flat and monotone, but there was nothing else I could say. I couldn’t tell him that I thought hiring someone who claims they are handicap or disabled was the worst thing he could ever possibly do. If I did that, I’d be out of a job and in a lot of trouble. And because we were a small office, some things fell to me to carry the slack when another manager was out of the office for whatever reason. And that included Jordyn’s maternity leave.
“Excellent. I’ll be leaving in about an hour. Take a look at the mockups and let me know tomorrow which one you think we should go with. Goodbye,” Justin ordered before returning to his desk. Not only had his words dismissed me, but his whole demeanor told me to get the hell out.
I grabbed the mockups and left. I needed space, my space. Slamming the door shut to my office, I threw the mockups across the small room and watched the papers scatter across the floor and desk. Fucking Chad! Why him? Why did I get saddled with him? And that phone call from earlier…what was that? I didn’t even remember that night. If I did, I would probably throw up. Nothing of me or my body missed his dick. Hell, I was probably only sore the next day because he didn’t know how to fuck a woman properly, and not because his cock was long or wide. I was willing to bet if I stripped him, I would find something the size of my pinky finger. Damn him!
Now I had to deal with him and a new person, but not just any new person. A crippled person. My day sucked, and before she even started, I knew I would hate this new employee.
People got sick. I knew that, but people in their twenties did not become as sick as Emma or others claimed to be. If they were that bad, they should to be in the hospital where people could take care of them, and where they could be shut away from polite society. They didn’t belong in the general population. The fact that Emma, my bitch of a sister-in-law, lived alone before she swindled my brother into feeling sorry for her, provided enough proof that she faked her illness and continued to fool the people around her to this day. And that included Bryan.
I had no doubt that this new employee was the same. But I would follow the rules and play nice, and when they stepped out of line, I would take them all down. I didn’t care if they were family or employee. Faking an illness was nothing but a ruse to lure in unsuspecting victims, because if anyone was that sick or disabled, they wouldn’t be looking for a job. I would never be taken in again.
Never again.
Chapter 13
Chad
I loved throwing Rayne off her game, turning her world on its side. She deserved nothing less after the way she had behaved since I met her. The girl thought all she had to do was snap her fingers and every man in a 50 mile radius would fall to their knees ready to do her bidding.
I remembered the first time I met her very well. Bryan had been telling me his sister would be visiting and then proceeded to gush about how sweet and lovely she was. When she arrived, I had been impressed. Even at her young age, she had been stunning, and I knew she would grow into a gorgeous woman who would make all of the boys pine for her. Her midnight hair flowed down to the small of her back and shined like satin, and her sapphire blue eyes sparkled.
But then she opened her mouth, and I discovered that the beauty on the
inside did not match her outside. Staring at me with narrowed eyes, she snorted and rolled them. “Let me guess, you hang out with my brother because you think he’ll make you popular or something.”
After that, I wanted to spank her as well as wash her mouth out with soap. She didn’t know who the hell I was. Why the fuck did she think she could talk to me, or anyone, like that? If she didn’t change, she would be in for a very rude awakening when she entered the real world.
And Bryan allowed it. He excused her behavior and said, “She’s a kid who thinks she rules the world. We were like that once.” If anyone asked me at the time, he should have laid down the law right then and there, but he didn’t and no one asked.
Those precious times I got one over on her, were recorded mentally and remembered fondly. They didn’t happen often. Or at least, not often enough by my estimation. Today had been one of those rare victories.
I left her a couple hours ago and could easily imagine her fuming in her office, throwing a temper tantrum, and screaming her fool head off. Score one in the win column. I needed her off-kilter and uncertain before I reeled her in. It was like fishing. You had to bait them, attract the fish into your space—wherever your hook landed—and when they bit, you set the hook, and reeled them in. Rayne was my fish, and I was a very good fisherman…very good. I had been known to pull them in when no one else could get a bite.
Both fish and women.
Pulling out my phone, I hit talk and grinned as I waited for the other line to connect to the last person I had called.
“What the fuck do you want?” Rayne demanded, her voice sounded as if she had been possessed by a demon. I relished in it.
Redeemed: Book Two of the Love Seekers Series Page 6